Our Sweet and Crazy Coonhound ...

Our Sweet and Crazy Coonhound ...
Run Free: birthdate unknown - Oct. 17 2008

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Tennessee Lead

Very few people in South Florida recognize Booker's breed. We are a region densely populated by little condo-perfect dogs -- all fancy purebreds and designer crossbreeds -- with a few high visual-impact large dogs, like borzoi and afghans, thrown in.

"Wow, that's a beagle on steroids!"
"What kind of beagle-mix is that?"

We get those all the time.

Fort Lauderdale has a hefty share of the Domicile-Challenged (as our friend
Biggie Z refers to them ...) also known as WTFs for their frequent outbursts at innocent citizens and tourists.

Yesterday I was walking Booker along the river, where many of our local WTFs (another Biggie Z-ism) hang out. Actually at times, it looks like a WTF
convention around here.

Anyway, more than once, the older black men in the generally eclectic WTF population have addressed us, often loudly, and often with very southern accents.

"Hey, lady, my bossman had some of them coondogs."
"That's a Walker hound, isn't it ma'am."
"I used to keep them Walkerhounds for hunting, lady."


Yesterday, one of them looked at us and asked excitedly, "That's a Tennessee Walker, ain't it missus?"

His friend jumped up, annoyed. "No, that's a Treeing Walker," shouted his bench buddy.

George Washington Maupin (Left), Tennessee Lead and William J. Walker (Right) (courtesy Google images)

I smiled. "Actually, he's a Treeing Walker, and they were bred from a dog named Tennessee Lead originally."

"SEE," shouted the first one and he began whapping his buddy with a rolled up newspaper.

Booker and I beat a hasty retreat along our riverside path. David has suggested that I don't walk along the river any more. We are fairly water-bound. The options are not many. And as long as the WTFs appreciate a good coonhound, I guess we are okay.


Sign at the Tennessee-Kentucky stateline (click to enlarge) marking the trail of Tennesse Lead, a stolen hounddog. (courtesy Google images)


11 comments:

Jake of Florida said...

Booker,

We are sure a WTF is not the same as a WFT, but is a WTF a way of asking what we think it is??

Also, when we read your last comment on our blog, we were so intent on helping you understand why we get plucked that we deleted your comment without moderating it. Sorry!!

Jake and Just Harry, WFTS!!!

Unknown said...

LOL thanks for explaining the plucking. Booker was getting all squirmy just hearing about it, lol ... and YES, as Biggie Z has clued us into a "WTF" is a random bench-dweller with a propensity for shouting "WTF" ... especially when they see a huge white dog like Biggie!

Kathryn and Ari said...

You two do great dialogue! We were in stitches the whole time we read this post. Bravo!

River said...

Even though we LIVE in the greater TN area (which includes some of Ga) people still don't know a treeing walker. My mom got Zorro to foster (he's in the 3rd blog entry, I think) the people called saying he was a tall beagle. My mom thought, uh oh, that means he's a coonhound and she was right. So we get WTFs around here, too. Funny story.

love & wags,
River

Anonymous said...

Nice story! I'm glad they didn't start hitting YOU with the newspaper! Someone once asked if I was part Walrus. :D

Charlie Daniels said...

Humans often stop when I am out walking and say "He is gorgeous but WHAT IS HE?"

I mean, how rude is that? It's obvious I am a Cattle Dog crossed with an elephant!

Cheers

Charlie

River said...

I gave you an award! Come pick it up.

love & wags,
River

Lacy said...

w00f's Booker, nice to meeted u, my name iz rocky and me iz 2 years old...mamas daddy use to haff black and tan hounds and Plotts...daddys daddy use to raise Blue Tics, red bone and black and tans...

b safe,
~rocky~

me just chases sqeerls...and birdies and cats...

Kess And Her Mama said...

We've never seen a coon dog in Malaysia. So, it is great that we are able to be friends with you thru the internet!

Girl Girl Hamster said...

Hey Booker, I think you're a cute doggie no matter what size or breed you are. :)

~ Girl girl

Biggie-Z said...

Haha Booker! That is so AWESOME that those guys knew what you are! We unusual breeds get mistaken for a lot of stuff. I still get the polar bear comment a lot.

WTF is also an abbreviation for what goes on in our humans' minds when the domicile-challenged say really random things. Like the time the guy said he wanted to eat Biggie's tail. Internally, I thought, "What The ----?!" So we also use it to describe the various oddballs we interact with, because, you know, some of them might only be mentally-challenged, not domicile-challenged. (some are both, but you are guaranteed to think "WTF" at least once when interacting with these folks)

Speaking of WTFs, we took Biggie to a dog run about a mile from our place and the Friendly Neighborhood Crack Dealer was hanging outside the fence watching the dogs play, and he said, "That's Biggie, right? Man, he got BIG since the last time I saw him!" Yes, Biggie is a local celebrity.